WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE FOR ME TODAY: Julia Cambridge (Lib Dem)

We ask the parliamentary hopefuls for South Holland and the Deepings to say why you should put your X against their name in the General Election later today (Thursday).

You have a clear choice today. I want to ask you to consider the choice ahead of you.

I want to speak for South Holland and the Deepings and be a strong and passionate voice sticking up for the community, challenging Theresa May’s Conservative government and holding it to account as part of a real opposition.

It seems in little doubt that the Conservatives will hold power centrally.

We’ve seen what is in store from the Theresa May/ Nigel Farage camp. Britain torn out of the single market, school funds slashed and the pound in your pocket worth less and less. My greatest worry is what our pensioners will face if the government goes unchallenged. Everything that you have worked for over £100,000 could be taken by the state if you have a health condition requiring social care. By contrast, the Liberal Democrats will protect the triple lock on pensions and put a cap of £72,000 on social care costs.

Primary age children will receive a free school dinner and we will put nearly £7billion more into school budgets over the parliament.

Pay freezes on public sector workers will be lifted and crucially an extra £6billion will go straight away into the NHS. Contrast that with the Conservative plan for the NHS, which independent experts warn will leave it under-funded and providing lower standards of care.

You might have concerns about lack of investment in house building. I want to tackle that and stand by my party’s pledge to build 300,000 new homes a year by 2022.

There is no doubt in my mind that the rural economy, so important to this area, will be rocked by the uncertainty of the Brexit deal over the next few years. Above all, I want to be your voice in Westminster, holding the government to account over farm subsidies, investment in local transport links and making sure you aren’t hit harder by our exit from the EU. The Liberal Democrats are the only party who wants you, not politicians, to have the final say on the deal.

A vote for me is not a wasted vote. It would send a strong message to Theresa May that we are not going to stand by and watch the NHS collapse, young people left without hope and our elderly relatives stripped of dignity.